An intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural language dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system can be implemented using any of a number of different platforms, such as the web, email, smartphone, and the like, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the system is based on sets of interrelated domains and tasks, and employs additional functionally powered by external services with which the system can interact.

Intelligent Automated Assistant

Media objects are transformed into active, connected objects via identifiers embedded into them or their containers. In the context of a user's playback experience, a decoding process extracts the identifier from a media object and possibly additional context information and forwards it to a server. The server, in turn, maps the identifier to an action, such as returning metadata, re-directing the request to one or more other servers, requesting information from another server to identify the media object, etc. The linking process applies to broadcast objects as well as objects transmitted over networks in streaming and compressed file formats.

Connected audio and other media objects

The various methods and devices described herein relate to devices which, in at least certain embodiments, may include one or more sensors for providing data relating to user activity and at least one processor for causing the device to respond based on the user activity which was determined, at least in part, through the sensors. The response by the device may include a change of state of the device, and the response may be automatically performed after the user activity is determined.

Automated Response to and Sensing of User Activity in Portable Devices

A virtual assistant uses context information to supplement natural language or gestural input from a user. Context helps to clarify the user's intent and to reduce the number of candidate interpretations of the user's input, and reduces the need for the user to provide excessive clarification input. Context can include any available information that is usable by the assistant to supplement explicit user input to constrain an information-processing problem and/or to personalize results. Context can be used to constrain solutions during various phases of processing, including, for example, speech recognition, natural language processing, task flow processing, and dialog generation.

Using context information to facilitate processing of commands in a virtual assistant

A method for detecting against unauthorized transmission of digital works comprises the steps of maintaining a registry of information permitting identification of digital copyrighted works, monitoring a network for transmission of at least one packet-based digital signal, extracting at least one feature from the at least one digital signal, comparing the extracted at least one feature with registry information and applying business rules based on the comparison result.

Copyright detection and protection system and method

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the encoding efficiency by removing the characteristic or correlativity of a signal by LPC(linear predicted coding) analysis or pitch analysis to the signal waveform of a time base prior to orthogonal transformation in an encoding using orthogonal transformation. SOLUTION: The time base input signal from an input terminal 10 is transmitted to a normalization circuit part 11 and an LPC analyzing circuit 39. The normalization circuit 11 removes the correlation of the signal waveform by an LPC reverse filter 12 and a pitch reverse filter 13 to take the residue, which is then transmitted to an orthogonal transformation circuit 25. The LPC coefficient from the LPC analyzing circuit 39 and the pitch parameter from a pitch analyzing circuit 15 are transmitted to a bit assignment calculation circuit 41. A coefficient quantization part 40 quantizes the coefficient from the orthogonal transformation circuit 25 according to the assigned bit number from the bit assignment calculation circuit 41.

Signal encoding device and method therefor

A decoder for reproducing information from an encoded signal that has been frequency-domain transformed by a transform conversion circuit in response to audio signal samples grouped into time-domain blocks based on selected block time lengths, includes a reverse conversion transformation circuit that groups the frequency-domain transfer coefficients into transform blocks based on the block time length information used in the encoding operation and applies the inverse discrete transform function to generate time-domain signal sample blocks therefrom.

Signal decoding apparatus

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate a sine wave without performing modulo addressing. SOLUTION: The amplitude, phase and frequency of a sine wave to be generated are calculated on the basis of a feature amount s1 delivered to a feature amount detecting means 2, and are transmitted to an initial setting means 3. In the means 3, two initial points of the sine wave are calculated, and are transmitted as initial values s4 to an oscillator (sine wave generating means) 4. The oscillator (sine wave generating means) 4 successively computes a value of each sample point of the waveform by using a recurrence formula, according to an initial value instructed by the means 3, thereby generating a sine wave signal. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Apparatus and method of generating waveform, and decoder

PURPOSE: To reduce the size and weight of a device main body by using a semiconductor memory as a storage medium for audio data which are compressed and encoded with high efficiency. CONSTITUTION: The semiconductor memory 41 in an audio signal reproducing circuit part 40 is stored with the audio data which are compressed and encoded with high efficiency. Namely, the stored data are obtained by converting an audio signal supplied to an input terminal 31 into a digital signal by an A/D converter 32 and compressing and encoding the digital signal by an encoding circuit 33 with high efficiency, and data read out of the semiconductor memory 41 are converted into an analog signal, which is sent to a headphone unit 44 and converted acoustically. Thus, the semiconductor memory is used as the signal recording medium to reduce the size and weight. COPYRIGHT: (C)1991,JPO&Japio

Audio signal reproducing device

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily retrieve a speaker of encoded speech data which is recorded in semiconductor storage device inside an IC recorder. SOLUTION: In a speaker retrieving device 1, an information receiving part 10 reads the encoded speech data recorded in the semiconductor storage device 107 of the IC recorder 100 and a speech decoding part 12 decodes the encoded speech data. A speaker frequency detection part 13 identifies the speaker based on characteristics of decoded speech waveform, calculates conversation frequency (appearance frequency) of the speaker in a prescribed time section and a speaker frequency graph display part 14 displays the speaker frequency on a picture as a two-dimensional graph by defining time and frequency as both axes. A speech reproduction part 16 reads the encoded speech data of a part equivalent to a time position or a time range specified based on the two-dimensional graph in a reproducing position input part 15 from a storage part 11 and supplies the data to a speech output part 17 by decoding it. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Masayuki Nishiguchi

Papers

Signal encoding device and method therefor

Signal decoding apparatus

Apparatus and method of generating waveform, and decoder

Audio signal reproducing device

Method and device for retrieving information